The present disclosure relates generally to a packaging for balls. More particularly, the present disclosure relates generally to an open packaging for sporting balls.
Recently, there has been an effort to produce packaging that lessens the environmental impact. One way is to make the packaging of a recyclable, degradable, post-consumer and/or biodegradable material. An alternative and additional way is to minimize the amount of packaging material used by removing or reducing any unnecessary packaging. However, minimizing the amount of packaging material could impact the display and placement of the product in retailers.
The display and placement of the product on the shelves of retailers can help persuade a consumer to purchase a product. For example, the amount of shelf space allocated to the product and the location of the shelf space can influence the sales of the product. The more favorable shelf space generally is the shelf area that is more visible to a consumer, for example, the shelf space at eye level and/or a large allocation of shelf space. However, there is competition for favorable shelf space. Retailers generally have more products available to be displayed than they have shelf space. Also, retailers may want to have as much product as possible in a given area so that the risk of the unavailability of a product on the shelf is minimized. Retailers may also want to avoid having unnecessarily long periods where the product is unavailable on the shelf because the original displayed quantity of sold products has been sold.
Retailers typically maximize the shelf space available by the placement of the products on a shelf. Retailers generally display products on a shelf by stacking the additional products behind and/or on top of the first visible product on the shelf. A manufacturer can improve the chances of a more favorable shelf space placement of the product by using a packaging that requires more visible shelf space, such as horizontal space, to display the first visible product.
Additional considerations in the design of the packaging include shipping and handling. The packaging should provide protection against blemishes during shipping and handling. Also, the packaging should not be subject to movement or rolling when placed in a shipping box or displayed on a shelf.
One of the more difficult items to package and display are round or spherical objects, such as balls. Golf balls are mostly sold by the dozen in a solid rectangular or square outer box packaging. Many of the outer box packaging further includes four solid inner rectangular boxes called “sleeves” that each contain three golf balls.
Therefore, there exists a need in the art for packaging for balls that lessens the environmental impact by reducing the amount of packaging material, while maximizing the visibility of the packaging on a shelf.